TRENTON — New Jersey Assembly Republicans didn’t want to talk Wednesday about NJ Transit’s yearslong descent into its current state of frequent delays and cancellations.

Instead, they wanted to talk about the agency’s communications — or lack thereof — over the past couple of months.

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“Commuters today don’t want to hear the history of the western world. They want to hear the train’s coming this morning,” said Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick at a Statehouse press conference.

“We cannot allow our passengers to be notified on the platform that their train has been canceled,” said Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Union).

New Jersey’s Republican legislators have taken on Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy over NJ Transit’s poor railroad performance this summer as commuters continue to bemoan frequent delays and cancellations attributed largely to the installation of the Positive Train Control safety system and a shortage of engineers.

On Thursday, the Assembly and Senate transportation committees will hold a hearing on the agency’s woes — something Republicans called for shortly before Democrats, who control the Legislature, agreed to.

But on Wednesday, Republican lawmakers faced tough questions from reporters about why they didn’t hold similar press conferences or level similar criticisms during the Christie administration, when the Republican governor slashed the agency’s state budget subsidy, forcing NJ Transit to use capital funds intended for long-term projects for its day-to-day operations.

Murphy said recently he had “underestimated the mess” former Gov. Chris Christie left him at NJ Transit.

“In 2017, I sat on the budget committee and there was no indication to us that [NJ Transit] needed to do something to bring in more engineers. This was something we could have budgeted for. They could have given us notice about it and they could have addressed the issue,” said Assemblyman Anthony Bucco (R-Morris). “To me, this entire problem is about communications and planning, and if it’s done correctly it will have the least impact on our ridership.”

Last year, a leader of the union that represents NJ Transit’s engineers told POLITICO the union had “warned” management over two years that staffing levels needed to be increased.

From 2011 to 2017, NJ Transit saw a net loss of 47 engineers. A class of nine new engineers graduated last week, adding to the current roster of 335 active locomotive engineers. But the agency's budget calls for 383 engineers, and executives there say they won’t have another class graduating until at least April.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. is urging Democratic leaders to take up a bill, NJ S508 (18R), that would roll back a law requiring most state workers to live in New Jersey, saying it would allow the agency to hire already-trained engineers from New York and improve recruiting efforts.

Senate President Steve Sweeney said he’s not inclined to move the legislation.

Bucco said last year’s anticipated “summer of hell” was largely avoided because the agency prepared and warned commuters, helping them find alternate ways into New York City during major repair work at Penn Station in Manhattan.

“It’s important for the opposition party to raise issues that the Democratic Party is not raising,” Bramnick said. “All of a sudden there’s better communication now. The voice of the opposition is not necessarily the evil empire. The fact is that we’re calling for more information to commuters.”